8oclockfandomcom-20200215-history
Project Architecture
Platforms nelsonray.net This website has been set up as the official website of Nelson Ray, the hypnotist and first protagnoist of our story. The site functions to introduce the users to the backstory we have created for our world and the source material. It is also an entry point for the users, both serving to promote the Awake! event and to then guide the user down different pathways; prior to the main event the documentary production, and post main event to draw attention to George Nada. georgenada8.tumblr.com This is George's blog, giving the user direct access to George's point of view. Here his thoughts are documented, starting from when he is rejected by Lilly, and continuing to when he is awakened, and his eventual death. This blog also details George's interactions with Nelson Ray before the show, giving a backstory of meeting Nelson at Blinker's from George's perspective. The blog acts as a key insight into the protagonist of the story. It allows users to gain an understanding of George as a character, and implies a legitimacy based simply on the fact the blog is written in first person; as if this is just an ordinary blog by an ordinary person, documenting something out of the ordinary in the end stages of his life. George's blog is also a significant part of the pathways of the project, linking and being linked from all other platforms; George is central to the project, and is represented by this blog. Even after his death, his blog still remains crucial to the story, as George is placed as the 'hero' who started the war against the Fascinators. Users interaction with the blog is minimal, as it's purpose is to serve as an artefact of George and the events that happen to him. thehypnosisexperience.wordpress.com This is the documentary students' blog ; a blog documenting the process of two RMIT students making a documentary about hypnotism. The blog is filled with comprehensive posts about documentary filmmaking, lectures and discussions centred around filmmaking, and so gives the user a strong impression that the blog is in fact not fake. This then leaves the user wondering whether posts related to the mystery of the Fascinators should be believed or not, and opens up the other platforms to the same questioning. The blog serves as a platform that brings most of the story together in a simple and straightforward context. Based on the premise these students have heard of Nelson Ray's return, contacted him and got him on board with the documentary, and then stumbled upon the case of George, the blog allows the user to follow the story almost as if from an outside perspective - an unintentional, unbiased perspective of the story. This creates a certain trust in this blog, as it is unassuming, and not officially a part of the story. The blog primarily contains another perspective of Nelson Ray. Nelson is essentially idolised by the students, and this is communicate through the blog in various posts detailing their excitement and disbelief and working with such an amazing person. Following the show and press releases about Nelson, the students 'innocently' meet George, and tell the user they are intrigued by him, both through video and text. This leads to the students stumbling upon the saga that surrounds George, which eventually also connects Nelson. The blog becomes a platform for useful information given in a perspective that sits 'outside' the story. This allows users to easily understand the story, and adds a touch a realism. As footage was shot around the university, locations may be recognised, and hence give credit to the backstory of the two students; apparently only innocently shooting a documentary and documenting the process through blogging. In addition, the blog also links to the students' YouTube channel, hence adding another realistic element. helpfindgeorge.tumblr.com This is a blog set up by Lily intended to call for information about her missing partner George. The blog begins with Lily desperately searching for information of George's whereabouts. Lily's blog acts as a first person perspective of Lily's search for George. It allows the story to be given more depth, as the user can find out clues as to Chief Robinson's cover up and what really happened to George. As Lily herself does not know, and furthermore does not know about the Fascinators, she takes on a role similar to the user in that she must investigate the story. Hence, her blog is crucial in giving the user key information. The blog is also used to reveal clues that could not be revealed authentically on another platform - the audio logs of Chief Robinson. These are claimed to be sent to Lily from an anonymous source, and detail Chief Robinson's role in his search for George, his attempts to lead Lily astray, and eventually the demise of the Fascinators. Lily's blog allows for these to be released as anonymous submissions to her help find George campaign. Lily's blog is also useful in creating a connection between the platforms, connecting George's blog through reblogging, putting out a call to the documentary students for help, and accusing Nelson Ray of having something to do with the disappearance of George. Furthermore, the blog is intended to be found towards the end of the user journey, and hence holds most of the conclusions of the story - that George is dead, and that there are Fascinators controlling the city. Lilly is also the first to link to the final concluding platform, thefascinatorsarehere.weebly.com thefascinatorsarehere.weebly.com This site serves as the ending to the story. It is implied to have been created by a group of people who were awakened by George, caught on to the fact Fascinators are in control, and are now putting the word out there. Though intended to be found last in the user journey, the site can also be used to backtrack through the story, giving the user clarification to all the other story aspects over the many other platforms. Hence, the site links to George's blog, Lily's blog and Nelson Ray's website are included to make back tracking through the story easier. Ultimately the site acts as a sign of victory for the humans, and implies the end is near for the Fascinators. It also hails George as a saviour, and Nelson Ray as the one who encouraged him to get there. Platform links The following is a map of the links between the project's platforms. Structure To retain consumers for the longest period possible, our transmedia project team devised strategies to gradually expand the structure of the story world as the real-time plot passed. Nelson Ray’s website and the documentary students’ blog were initially the only sources available to consumers. In the days leading up to the hypnotist show, more content was added to both these sites (namely promotional material created by the documentary students). Visiting either site daily would usually yearn new content for the visitor to examine. Following the hypnotist show event, the documentary production blog linked to a new stream of content in the form of show attendee George Nada’s blog. The structure of this peripheral website was such that one could find their way back to the core site (being Nelson Ray’s website) in an organic manner (eg. an embedded video of an ‘Awake!’ promo). Following the documentary students’ media release concerning George’s alleged crimes and unknown whereabouts, the production blog and Nelson Ray website offered links to Lily Saunder’s blog. In the days following this, as Lily unravelled the mystery behind George’s activity and posted fresh content concerning this, a final website offering some form of closure to the dedicated consumer emerged in thefascinatorsarehere.weebly.com. Ultimately, the ever-expanding nature of the transmedia project was achieved in two ways. New content was initially constantly added to the couple of core sources available to the consumer. As the plot developed, the story demanded a different form of expansion to satisfy consumer needs and was achieved through the realisation of three additional websites. Pathways Drilling down further, this section will list each platform and a likely range of channels or services on those platforms, covering at a high level what the content will be on each. For example, if the platform is a generic smart-phone, the range of channels used on that particular platform might include (a) generic SMS (b) a cross-mobile OS (operating system) bespoke-built app, and © a QR (quick response) pattern-based app. This section will document all channels as a reference point for the rest of the production bible, and is likely to be updated regularly throughout development and production. Content Timeline Design Aesthetic Write the second section of your page here. Cinematography A number of factors influenced cinematographic style across the transmedia project. Character perspective primarily impacted the mode of filming in terms of filming device and shot composition. The ‘home video’ aesthetic of George Nada’s web video entry, for instance, was captured using an inbuilt MacBook camera and employed a static frame customary to this style of filming. The student documentary, on the other hand, was shot using a Canon 60D given the high quality demanded of such a project. With production circumstances under which the documentary was shot changing from time to time, there came a few differences between sequences. The uncontrolled environments of Zoe and Sam’s first pre-production meeting with Nelson Ray as well as the sequence where promotional posters for Nelson’s show are being handed out are filmed on-the-fly and thus employ far more tracking and zooming than can be observed in the more pre-meditated sequences such as the vox pops, Zoe and Sam’s audience address and Nelson Ray’s hypnotist show. Key Access Points Access to our transmedia project was promoted via two means: 1) A ‘Nelson Ray Hypnotist Show’ Facebook event was created for May 17th (the day before the hypnotist event actually occurs in our story world timeline) which PP1 peers were invited to attend. The URL to the nelsonray.net website was distributed at the event. 2) Fliers containing the nelsonray.net URL were distributed at an RMIT University lunchtime event.